From the Earth to the Moon
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:25:01
I'm spending more time trying to turn
these frigging bolts...

:25:06
than any goddamn else thing.
:25:11
Goddamn. Son of a...
Cocksucker. Goddamn it.

:25:16
Turn around
and give me a big smile.

:25:23
I had a special moment for myself
to mark my getting to the moon.

:25:27
When you are selected to become
a member of the astronaut corps...

:25:30
you wear a special silver pin.
:25:35
It gets replaced by a gold pin
when you actually fly a mission.

:25:39
I had worn my silver pin
for six years.

:25:41
Being selected for Apollo 12,
I wouldn't be needing it anymore.

:25:45
I wanted to put it in a special place
where it would rest forever.

:25:49
What better place
than in the Ocean of Storms.

:25:53
I joined NASA in the third group
of 14 astronauts in 1963.

:25:57
So did Dick Gordon
who flew with Pete in Gemini 11.

:26:01
While he and the rest of the group
were jockeying for seats...

:26:03
on lunar landing flights...
:26:04
I was assigned
to the Apollo Applications Program...

:26:07
the space station which came
to be known as Skylab.

:26:10
Pete called it "Tomorrowland."
:26:12
Planning things
so far in the future...

:26:14
who knew if they'd ever
become a reality or not.

:26:17
While I was tucked away
in some far-off corner...

:26:19
it seemed everyone else
was assigned mission after mission.

:26:22
I sort of felt
like the forgotten man.

:26:24
But I kept an eye
on what my peers were doing...

:26:27
all the guys I used to commiserate with
about not getting to fly.

:26:30
Walt Cunningham made the crew
of Apollo 7.

:26:34
Bill Anders, Apollo 8.
:26:36
Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9.
:26:38
That left just me.
:26:40
But there were others from our group
that were not so fortunate.

:26:47
Ted Freeman was flying his T-38
at a couple hundred miles per hour...

:26:50
when a goose smashed in
the Plexiglas of his cockpit.

:26:53
He was killed.
:26:56
Charlie Basset died along with
Elliot See...

:26:58
when Elliot crashed into a building
at the McDonnell plant in St. Louis.


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